Two Chinese warships encircled Japan's southwestern islands over the past week as Beijing continued to expand its naval fleet operations beyond a strategic choke point surrounding its nearby waters.
On Thursday, the Joint Staff Office under Japan's Defense Ministry reported the recent movement of China's naval vessels inside the Japanese exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea, an area that extends 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond its territorial sea.
Chinese Type 052D destroyers Nanjing and Lishui passed through the "Yonaguni Gap" on August 2 as they departed the East China Sea and entered the Philippine Sea, according to the report. The 67-mile-wide waterway lies between Taiwan to the west and Japan's island of Yonaguni to the east.
Yonaguni is the westernmost island of Japan, and because of its proximity to Taiwan, it became a frontline island as tensions across the Taiwan Strait heightened. The Chinese military sent aircraft and vessels around the self-ruled island daily, with some of them transiting the Yonaguni Gap.
Before entering the narrow waterway, the Chinese destroyers were spotted in waters 43 miles west of the Senkaku Islands, also known as the Diaoyu Islands in China. The uninhabited territory in the East China Sea is under Tokyo's administration, but Beijing claims it as its inherent territory.
The Type 052D destroyer is one of the Chinese navy's major surface combatants in service. It has a full load displacement of 7,500 tons and is armed with a naval main gun and various missiles.
The Nanjing and Lishui were spotted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force again on Wednesday, when they passed between the Japanese islands of Amami Oshima and Yokoate-jima, returning to the East China Sea and heading back to the mainland after six days of sailing in the Philippine Sea.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email.
Yonaguni, Amami Oshima and Yokoate-jima are part of the Ryukyu Islands, also known as the Nansei Islands in Japan. The islands serve as the maritime boundary between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea, and they are part of the so-called first island chain.
Japan and the United States, its security ally, attempted to contain Chinese naval activities within the first island chain but without success. China's navy has expanded its area of operations beyond the chain in recent years, including in the deployment of a carrier strike group in the Philippine Sea.
In a report released last year, the U.S. Defense Department said China's navy, which is the largest in the world with more than 370 ships and submarines, has begun conducting military activities outside the first island chain in the exclusive economic zones of other countries, including the U.S., Australia and Japan.
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